People: Cruz, Banderas team up for 'Tarantula'

Knight Ridder Newspapers

Published Friday, May 31, 2002

Spanish heartthrobs Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz will be joining forces for a somewhat offbeat sci-fi project, reports Empire Online, when they are reunited with fellow countryman and director Pedro Almodovar in "Tarantula."

Based on a French novel, "Tarantula" stars Banderas as a plastic surgeon who seeks revenge on his daughter's rapist by turning him into a woman (played by Cruz). He then falls in love with his creation.

Watch your husband, Melanie Griffith -- Matt Damon was doing love scenes with Cruz on "All the Pretty Horses" about the time he split with Winona Ryder. Nicolas Cage was filming "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" with Cruz when he announced that he and wife Patricia Arquette were finally breaking up. Then there was "Vanilla Sky," which brought Cruz together with her current companion, Tom Cruise, who at the time was married to Nicole Kidman.

Eerie coincidence? Let's hope so.

Pink pushes fur-free policy

With two dogs and two rats as pets, pop star Pink wants everyone to keep in mind the horror animals endure for our trends. So she's promoting a fur-free door policy at nightclubs around the country, reports USA Today.

The Get the Party Started singer is on a poster created by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to note the fur-free setup at hip New York hangout Centro-Fly. Another club, trendy Spa, has the same policy of barring fur-wearing patrons.

Pink lists her own furry animal pals in an interview for www.peta.org as two dogs, two rats "and a boyfriend -- does that count?" The rats are named Thelma and Louise, the dogs Corky and (bleeper).

She admits that "in a selfish phase" she wore fur occasionally, but now she's a boycotter.

So what does she think of pro-fur people?

"I believe in the saying 'to each his/her own,' but I hope they someday get bitten in the a-- by the same kind of animal they wear on their back."